Attention!! Class

Who ever did not come to the party , Will get F's on their report card.

Rosewood

For those who are doing their essay on the characters in Rosewood  here is link where you can get information,quotes and sayings.

http://digital.lib.lehigh.edu/trial/reels/films/list/0_60_4

Rosewood

Post here if you find interesting or valuable information about the history of Rosewood.  It would be helpful to know for example what parts of the film were most accurate and which ones were created so that the drama would be more exciting!

>did the white woman accuse a black man of raping her?
>did citizens get a train to help women and children escape?
>were the lynching mobs ever punished?
>were there testimonies written that might be available

I would be most interested in your excellent research skills on this.  Also I would like to know if you thought the film was a valuable addition to our course and our discussion of heroism.

Dr Van

Please fill out this Survey

Hi Everyone--

The Common Reading Committee for LaGuardia would really appreciate it if you would fill out this short survey about Zeitoun.

Here is the link: 
https://lagccir.us2.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_2lcES6JE3RO1KW9

We need student feedback to keep the program going--along with the free books so please indicate that we used the book for our work and that we reviewed the website!

Thanks!
Dr Van

Our Schedule Next Week

Hi Everyone--

I jumped ahead in the calendar thinking next week was our last week, but we have next week in class.

Your homework is to think about the final I gave you in class which I will also post here--BELOW.  Monday we will discuss topics and also screen the film Rosewood, which will give us one more hero to include.

PLEASE SEND ME YOUR ZEITOUN ESSAY BY TOMORROW 3PM. THOSE WHO SEND WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO REVISE; OTHERWISE I CANNOT GRADE THEM IN TIME FOR TUESDAY LAB REVISION.

REMEMBER THAT YOUR RESEARCH PAPER GRADE DEPENDS ON BEING ABLE TO FIND, INTEGRATE AND CITE QUOTATIONS FROM SOURCES CORRECTLY.

FINAL EXAM TOPIC AND INSTRUCTIONS

Due in Class Tuesday December 18th

            For your final exam for this course, you will focus on the nature of the hero, and possibly the tragic hero, by comparing and contrasting any two heroes we have read about, discussed and written on this semester.  Options for comparison include Boxer, Snowball (Animal Farm), Electra, Orestes (Electra) Antigone, Creon, (Antigone) Senay or Okwe (Dirty Pretty Things) OR THE MAIN CHARACTER IN ROSEWOOD.

You will develop a clear thesis for this comparison-contrast essay by stating, in your introduction, the main similarities and differences between the two heroes you have chosen.  You may use Aristotle, but I would also like you to use Campbell’s stages of the hero’s journey—whichever steps apply to your hero.

Some Guide Questions:

1.     How is the hero (or heroine) called to adventure? (triggering event)

2.     When, how, why does he/she cross into the field of adventure?

3.     What are two important tests or trials he/she confronts?

4.     Where do you see him/her shifting from old world to new world (old self to new self)?  (evaluate changes, heroism)

5.     If the hero meets with a “goddess” (love that helps transformation), who/what is that goddess?

6.     Does the hero achieve the goal of his/her quest and have a kind of recognition?  Describe and discuss that moment in your conclusion

For your conclusion, you should also think of a creative and thoughtful way of describing what you have learned about the nature of the hero through your study of these two characters.

As always your essay should be 600-800 words.  It should include direct quotations from the texts, correctly documented using MLA style.  Please include Works Cited at end.  The essay will be due Tuesday, December 18 in our lab, and, yes, we will have time on Monday to brainstorm ideas about the topic.

Living Cadavers: how the poor are tricked into selling their organs

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/03/living-cadavers-how-the-poor-are-tricked-into-selling-their-organs/254570/

This article was published by the Atlantic newspaper. This article briefly explains how people are corruptly coerced in Europe to sell their organs for money. This is bigger than I expected this epidemic to be. We should look up more touching material on this subject.

Research on Zeitoun

Below I am summarizing the topics we generated in class last Thursday.  You should also use this space to share research information you are gathering about Zeitoun.  Credit will be given for each example of annotated research--a brief summary of the research you have found.

Mini-Research Essay on Zeitoun

Research Areas Discussed in Class:

      1.  Examine heroism and the (tragic) hero in the story: how is Zeitoun a hero? What qualities are necessary for such a hero and how does he fulfill them.  What are the various stages he goes through, the obstacles he overcomes, the qualities of character he has that you admire, that get him into trouble?

2    2.  Evaluate Kathy Zeitoun’s decision to become a Muslim.  How does this decision take place?  What is she looking for and what does she find.  What can you learn about Muslim culture, specifically for women, that helps you understand her decision and her comfort with it?
 

      3.  What is your opinion of other people’s insensitivity to Muslim culture in the novel? What specific behavior reveals this insensitivity?  How does this insensitivity, and eventual stereotyping, affect various characters?  Focus on specific scenes in the novel but also research stereotyping of Muslims in the United States.  Find out if what happens to Kathy and Zeitoun is unusual or not.

o   
       4.  Examine the role of various law enforcement agents in New Orleans after Katrina.  How were citizens like Zeitoun betrayed because of the imposition of martial law?  What rights that he assumed he had were violated?  What specific scenes and treatment seemed most unreasonable, cruel, painful to you? What was the short and long term effect of these violations on Zeitoun and his family?  Use the text as your primary source but also do some research, as Eggers did, on the legal situation at that time.
 

      5.  Several of you discovered that things have not gone well for the Zeitoun family since Eggers wrote his story about them.  Using evidence from the text, focus on incidents that reveal the stress both Kathy and Zeitoun were under during and after Katrina.  Do some research into this family’s situation since the book was published and describe what has happened.  See if you can identify causes of the marriage’s ultimate failure.

Is God Necessary for Morality?

If you are finding Plato's Euthyphro--and the challenge that Socrates poses to religious believers--to be somewhat challenging and confusing, the following video should help you clarify some of the core concepts involved, and it should also give you an idea of how philosophers debate with each other without their disagreements having to end up in shouting matches :)

William Lane Craig, philosopher and Christian apologist, argues that an objective morality can only make sense in the context of God, and that any naturalistic, materialistic, atheistic worldview is ultimately inconsistent with a morality universally binding on everyone.

On the other side, Dr. Louise Antony argues that even if God existed, God could not possibly be the source of any morality worth having, and that if God were morally good, it would have to be for secular, and not for religious reasons. Both points are the logical implications implications of the Euthyphro dilemma.

Whatever side of the issue you stand on, you are sure to be stimulated.

Craig's attempt to show the Euthyphro dilemma is a false dilemma, some have argued, only moves the problem one step back... to exactly the same problem, as this hilarious/brilliant cartoon demonstrates:

You might also want to check out a debate between Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath, or between Alister McGrath and Christopher Hitchens on similar topics.

Zeitoun

In the first stage in Campbell’s stages in the journey of the hero, The Ordinary World Zeitoun is introduced to the story sympathetically. The reader gets to see Zeitoun’s background, where he came from and how that might have resulted in the situations he finds himself in throughout the novel. He would always face dangerous situations as a child.  Zeitoun could not wait for when his older brother would take him fishing. He was accustomed to the diligent life style back in Syria and that affected many of his choices later on in life. Such as, the decision he made by staying behind to take care of his home. 

Required Research Skills for English 103 Grade

Research Skills I Will be Looking for In Your Essays:

 

1.        You have found relevant research that supports your argument

2.       You have integrated that research smoothly by identifying who is speaking and the context.

3.       You have explained (after the quotation) how the statement  supports, enhances your argument.

4.       You have used correct parenthetical documentation: (Sophocles 42).

5.       You have created a complete and correct Works Cited Page using MLA style:

 

For book: Author, last name first. “Title of Article.” Title of Book. Where published, by whom, date.

 

For journal article: Author, last name first. “Title of Article.” Title of Journal. Date (Vol.): pages

Zeitoun and the Journey of the Hero

 In the novel Zeitoun, Campbell describes  the 11th stage as the"The Resurrection". This stage is at the climax of the character. In Zeitioun, we see Zeitoun tested beyond despair. He is thrown into jail, cavity searched and miss treat. Although Zeitoun had good intentions like the military and was not giving a change to prove himself. it still did not deturn him from his faith. He still prayed even though he was filthy and did not lose sight of the mission he was on. "The Resurrection" also goes on to say he is purified by a high and more complete level, meaning by the hero's action the conflict in the being start to lessen as when they initially started In the end its worth it.

Zeitoun

In Zeitoun the stage that Campbell describes as "The Ordinary World" is shown at the very beginning as the book opens with a flashback into Zeitoun's youth when he used to go fishing in the waters off of Syria. Dave Eggers connects with the audience by showing Zeitoun having an average morning in an american family. With not only Zeitoun but also Kathy, Eggers gives some personal history. With Kathy it is the story of her family and her relationship with them. With Zeitoun, we see his family history with the sea as well as his own family with the story of him forgetting his firstborn child on the lawn while trying to help his wife into the apartment. This gives us a little bit of insight on Zeitoun as a person. And of course the polarity with his family wanting him to leave New Orleans and his own desire to stay and watch over the properties.

Campbell Hero Journey for Zeitoun

Campbell’s Hero Journey Stages- Zeitoun

I have chosen the first stage that Campbell describes as the Hero’s Journey, The Ordinary World. This stage describes the hero as uncomfortable and introduces the hero sympathetically, recalling parts of his/her history and being set into an unsettling situation that is driving him/her crazy! In the novel Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, Abdulrahman Zeitoun is introduced through a lovely flashback filled with astounding imagery! He used to work as a fisherman in Syria and waited years to join the older men who fished under the moonlight. He has always been a hard worker since in the flashback it says that Abdul and his brother Ahmad would earn little money and give it to the welfare of their home and instead would fish for free. Years later, Abdul is the head of his Painting Company. In the morning, Abdul is awakened by his four children and various phone calls for service from the company. Ever since leaving his firstborn child alone in the yard after bringing her home from the hospital, Abdul has questioned that and has worked sullenly since then.

Zeitoun and the Journey of the Hero

Hello Everyone--I am pasting in below a description of the journey of the hero from Joseph Campbell--you can find many versions of this online.  We will use this document to reflect on Zeitoun's journey.  Some of the stages in the journey Zeitoun may not apply but many do.  We will also use these stages to compare Zeitoun to the other major characters we have studied this semester.

For your blog Sunday (midnight) you should pick one stage that Campbell describes below and apply it to Zeitoun, using a specific moment in the story to illustrate the stage.  What does Eggers do to make Zeitoun sympathetic?; What is Zeitoun's "call to adventure"?  What are the external pressures that pull him in different directions?  Where does he "cross the threshold"?  What is the nature of his ordeal?  (Choose one!)

Here are Campbell's Stages in the Journey of the Hero:

The Hero's Journey Outline

The Hero’s Journey is a pattern of narrative identified by the American scholar Joseph Campbell that appears in drama, storytelling, myth, religious ritual, and psychological development.  It describes the typical adventure of the archetype known as The Hero, the person who goes out and achieves great deeds on behalf of the group, tribe, or civilization.

Its stages are:

1.        THE ORDINARY WORLD.  The hero, uneasy, uncomfortable or unaware, is introduced sympathetically so the audience can identify with the situation or dilemma.  The hero is shown against a background of environment, heredity, and personal history.  Some kind of polarity in the hero’s life is pulling in different directions and causing stress.

2.        THE CALL TO ADVENTURE.  Something shakes up the situation, either from external pressures or from something rising up from deep within, so the hero must face the beginnings of change. 

3.        REFUSAL OF THE CALL.  The hero feels the fear of the unknown and tries to turn away from the adventure, however briefly.  Alternately, another character may express the uncertainty and danger ahead.

4.        MEETING WITH THE MENTOR.  The hero comes across a seasoned traveler of the worlds who gives him or her training, equipment, or advice that will help on the journey.  Or the hero reaches within to a source of courage and wisdom.

5.        CROSSING THE THRESHOLD.  At the end of Act One, the hero commits to leaving the Ordinary World and entering a new region or condition with unfamiliar rules and values. 

6.        TESTS, ALLIES AND ENEMIES.  The hero is tested and sorts out allegiances in the Special World.

7.        APPROACH.  The hero and newfound allies prepare for the major challenge in the Special world.

8.        THE ORDEAL.  Near the middle of the story, the hero enters a central space in the Special World and confronts death or faces his or her greatest fear.  Out of the moment of death comes a new life. 

9.        THE REWARD.  The hero takes possession of the treasure won by facing death.  There may be celebration, but there is also danger of losing the treasure again.

10.      THE ROAD BACK.  About three-fourths of the way through the story, the hero is driven to complete the adventure, leaving the Special World to be sure the treasure is brought home.  Often a chase scene signals the urgency and danger of the mission.

11.     THE RESURRECTION.  At the climax, the hero is severely tested once more on the threshold of home.  He or she is purified by a last sacrifice, another moment of death and rebirth, but on a higher and more complete level.  By the hero’s action, the polarities that were in conflict at the beginning are finally resolved.

12.       RETURN WITH THE ELIXIR.  The hero returns home or continues the journey, bearing some element of the treasure that has the power to transform the world as the hero has been transformed.

Your Antigone Essays

Greetings All--Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving!

I have received Antigone essays from Brian, Yuka, Stacy, Cat, Erika, and Renetta.  

EVERYONE ELSE needs to send me the Antigone essay this weekend!!!  As in today, Friday.  If you do not send them you will not have opportunity to revise.  

If you sent it and I did not receive it, please send again to my gmail: slyckvan@gmail.com.

Monday I will go over research and documentation.  Revisions will be due Tuesday in lab.  I repeat!  If you do not send your essay now, you will not be able to revise as I will not have time to review it.

Please see next blog for an important document on the journey of the hero, which we will use to discuss Zeitoun.  You should come to class Monday having finished the book.  More details on next blog.

Zeitoun

            From what I’ve read so far Zeitoun come off as someone who is strong, wise, ambitious, kind, loving and a hard worker. I see his love for his wife, his kids and his community. Zeitoun grew up as a hard worker which he embodies from his father traits. Zeitoun is a hero because he helps family out every day by fixing any problems in their house that needs to be fixed. He goes above and beyond just to make sure that he’s jobs gets complete without any breaks, he’s everyone hero. Somehow, Zeitoun can come off as very stubborn but not so much as Creon. He knew that the storm Katrina was coming and his wife insisted that they leave home but Zeitoun did not want to leave. When Zeitoun and his wife would talk on the phone she would bring up the storm Katrina, Zeitoun would either change the subject of their conversation or just dismiss it completely. In the mindset of Zeitoun, he’s thinking how can he leave his home when there are so many things that need to be done and so much people depending on him. His stubbornness already got him in trouble with his wife. She had left him one time to go to Florida with the kids. Zeitoun didn’t believe she would actually leave but when he saw her packing the car with luggage’s and the kids already strap in he knew she was serious. Zeitoun decision off being stubborn and avoiding the warning can cost him his life and the life of his wife and kids.

Antigone

Creon and Antigone both have two different ideas of law and justice. They both strongly agree and stand firm in what they believe in. Creon’s justice is mainly about the law and the state.  “But whoever shows by word and deed that he is on the side of the state,- he shall have my respect while he is living, and my reverence when he is dead” (Antigone 193). Creon depends on obedience & see’s the earth as a political place. He also believes that the state is king. “My voice is the one voice giving order in this city” (Antigone 215). Creon shows that nothing else matters to him but law of the state and the power that he upholds.

Antigone on the other sees justice as love. Antigone is more so about fighting for the one she loves. “It is my nature to join in love, not hate” (Antigone 206). I would consider Antigone more of a protector. She welcomes and respects the dead. She sees the earth as a she would see her family. Antigone laws and justice lies in fighting for what is right and fighting for the love of her family and love one.

Barack Obama 44th President

I already had my mind made up that Barack Obama was going to win the Presidential election. He did his part with persuading the people as to why they should re-elect him as president. President Obama had shown himself to be strong and full of courage even when the odd seems to be against him. I was at home with my family when the election was going on. At first we got nervous because we saw Obama falling short in numbers but then when we heard he was re-elected to do another term as president we was all happy. For the next four years I believe that the economy will start to improve and business would start booming again. I wish President Barack Obama nothing but the best of luck.

I believe Zeitoun is heroic because he is a very hard worker and is very strong. When he was young his bike got a flat while running to work and he did not give up. He used his strength carried his bike with him and ran with it over his shoulder in Even his boss at the time told him how great of a guy he was. He is very stubborn though beause he is getting repeated warnings about the hurricane from his wife and bother and he just won't leave. It's driving me crazyyyy. He should be taking his family and himself into consideration. Why even put them in danger?

Zeitoun

Zeitoun is a hero because he stays behind to protect his life's work. Even though there was a warning for everyone to evacuate the area, he still insist on staying. He was brave and very hardworking. He didn't want to lose everything that he worked for. The flaw in Zeitoun is that he is very stubborn. He is very much like Creon, he didn't want to listen to others. He acted only on what he believed was the right thing to do.